Official End of the Paul Campaign and Disappointment in the Liberty Movement

Whew, there’s a lot going on in the blogosphere.  For those of you who haven’t been keeping up on the recent Republican campaign developments, Ron Paul has conceded that he cannot win the nomination.  It seems that perhaps more shocking than this announcement is the fact that Rand Paul, Ron Paul’s son and one of the Kentucky senators, has come out and endorsed Mitt Romney.  I think that, more than anything else at the moment, has really thrown the liberty movement for a serious loop.

Lew Rockwell gave an interview on Russia Today (RT) that gave his take on things.  Of course, anyone who knows anything about Rockwell knows that he has long been involved with the liberty movement and with Ron Paul personally.  He used to be Paul’s campaign manager, way back in the day. He has, shall we say, a far more cynical voice and outlook than Ron has.  Lew explained what he thinks is going on with the campaign, and he stated that he didn’t think that Ron would be endorsing Romney.

While I have to concede that my post about it being some sort of strategy was me perhaps living in, as my husband would put it, “sweet cuckoo land,” it’s hard to admit that something you’ve fought incredibly hard to see through is over.  It’s always hard to know what to do when a chapter in your crusade reaches an inevitable conclusion.  Of course I’m disappointed by the way things turned out.  We were all hoping for a bigger slice of the pie, of course.  I must admit though, that I am incredibly disappointed by Rand’s endorsement of Romney.

In my mind, I had thought that perhaps Rand might act as a suitable replacement for Ron in 2016.  As Rockwell mentioned though and as I am now beginning to see, Rand is not Ron, and we cannot expect the same things of him, particularly in regards to foreign policy.  Of course, it is irrational and silly to think that the pup will be a copy of his father, but it’s disappointing to find out that someone you’d hoped would be a major voice for libertarianism is just a conservative, after all.  That’s not to downplay the fact that Paul the younger has been successful so far in Congress.  He is continuing the fight to audit the Fed and to pass other measures of which I wholeheartedly approve.  That said, he’s not a libertarian, nor does he pretend to be one.  For that reason, I guess I’m as disappointed as some of the other libertarians splattered across the Internet.

I haven’t decided who will be getting my vote in November, but I’ve been leaning towards Johnson for some time now.  I hate to say that, because I’ve been a hardcore Paul supporter for years and years now.  I still am.  I’m a Ron Paul supporter.  I think Johnson is good news, though I don’t necessarily agree with everything the Libertarian Party puts out there.  I sort of hate to admit that the Rand endorsement has left such a bad taste in my mouth, but it has.  It makes me feel like I need to get back to my old libertarian (with a lowercase l) roots.

I think one thing that we all need to take away from it, however, is that a big part of this revolution was accomplished through educating people.  I certainly think that there will be a lull in enthusiasm, but I think (I hope) that it will be temporary.  Ideas are powerful, and once you understand the guiding principles behind libertarianism and Austrian economics, it’s hard to go back.  People aren’t just going to forget what they’ve learned.  The recession is far from over, and the need to fight tyranny doesn’t end with Ron Paul’s campaign and political career.  Perhaps one of the most important results of this campaign, which I think Paul understood very well, was that the messages of liberty resonated the most with young people – young people who are angry, motivated, and who will continue to work towards freedom and limited government in important ways.

So rather than going away with a sour taste in my mouth and a feeling of being defeated, I’m determined to come away from this feeling that we have just closed a chapter in a long book detailing the struggle for liberty.  The battle is over, but the war?  Far from it.  We have come out of this with greater strength in numbers and more people who are dedicated to the fight.  That is Ron Paul’s legacy, and what a legacy it is.  I don’t think a politician has accomplished something like this since Goldwater, and I think the Paul liberty movement is arguably much stronger and comes at a moment in history when we need it most.

With those thoughts in mind, I encourage my readers not to feel angry or discouraged by the outcome of this campaign cycle.  Although we have not gained the presidency, we have not lost the war of ideals.  We will continue to educate and fight for our principles.  I would also like to add that I have learned another valuable lesson about politics: Don’t always buy into your own, optimistic spin.  Keep it real, and make sure that you’re always assessing the situation as objectively as possible.  Hard to do, when you’re so emotionally involved in something, but for next time, I’m going to do my best to keep my thinking hat on, so to speak.

Fight on, fellow libertarians!  I’ll be back soon with some stuff from Mises about the continuing bailouts and the next phase of the recession.  I’m thinking it’s due about 2015… Stay tuned!